The Year of the Dog is Here!

Overwatch’s now customary annual event has finally arrived! For this Lunar New Year, it’s the Year of the Dog, and the game is celebrating with some new additions and loot options that you’ll certainly be wagging your tail for.

The long-awaited New Year’s event has returned with a bucketload of new skins, emotes, loot box items, and much more.

So, here’s what’s in store for the Year of the Dog event this weekend. In this guide, you’ll find everything you need to know!

When is the Lunar New Year event?

The Year of the Dog Overwatch event takes place from February 16th until March 5th, giving you three weeks of magical Lunar New Year celebrations.

Why does it start later than it did last year?

For those of you who participated in the Year of the Rooster event in 2017, you may remember it starting at the tail end of January. Blizzard has done a good job keeping in line with the actual Chinese New Year, which starts much later this year. That’s why this year’s release date for the event isn’t until February 16th.

What New Features Have Been Added?

In spirit of the Lunar New Year and the cultures that celebrate it, a new Thailand map has been added for the event. But that’s not the only exciting addition to the game – there are also six new Legendary skins for some of your favorite heroes!

You have to check out Road Hog’s sea-faring new skin, as well as Mercy’s Chinese-inspired New Year holiday garb. They are al skins worth working hard for!

Competitive CTF?

As most of you should also know by now, there’s a competitive mode for CTF with its own ranking ladder! Just like Lucioball in the previous event. The same goes for this time, and as we know that many players won’t have enough time to juggle between regular competitive and CTF competitive, there are many options and services available out there that might be able to help with getting that elusive CTF rank boost for your ego 😉

Two options we’re aware of are Boostards and Boosting Hero. These sites have been featured on our blog before for their usual services, but as far as we know, they also provide event-related services and very well might support something for CTF as well!

How Can You Get the New Skins?

Just like last year’s event, you can acquire the new skins through loot boxes, which are only available during the Lunar New Year event. This is why it’s super important to play as much as you can during the event, because once the Year of the Dog has ended, you won’t be able to acquire the skins!

And if you weren’t able to get your favorite New Years’ skins from last year, don’t fret! They’ll be returning for purchase to the in-game store. Based on past events, the previous Lunar New Year skins should be purchasable for about 3,000 Overwatch coins. Most of the time, Blizzard sponsors a discount during the event to make it easier to get ahold of the ones you missed.

What Else is Coming to Overwatch?

While this isn’t paired with the Year of the Dog, the PvE Uprising mode will be returning soon too! While there aren’t too many details on it yet, players can absolutely look forward to the return of the popular PvE mode. As the Year of the Dog launches, there may be more updates and information regarding obtainable items and features. It’s always best to keep an eye out!